Heavy-duty drawer slide



Jan. 6, 1970 H. s. FALL HEAVY-DUTY DRAWER SLIDE 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

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Jan. 6, 1970 A H. s. FALL @W HEAVY-DUTY DRAWER SLIDE: l Filed July 26,1968 2 sheets-sheet a 2 8 VZ/2562 ,9565/5552 4 w .1 M

United States Patent O M' U.S. Cl. 30S-3.8 9 Claims ABSTRACT F THEDISCLOSURE A chassis track or drawer slide comprising a pair ofextensible track means, each track means comprising a guide means, aslide means, and load-bearing anti-friction means movably supporting theslide means on the guide means, and an elongated connecting member. Thisconnecting member is formed with a vertically and longitudinallyextending upper wall portion and a vertically and longitudinallyextending lower wall portion, the wall portions being spaced on oppositesides of a vertical plane extending longitudinally through the member.One of the guide means is rigidly fastened to each of the wall portionsto extend longitudinally therealong, the guide means being fastened,respectively, to the sides of the wall portions which face the saidvertical plane. Preferably, the wall portions are parallel to the planeand spaced apart so that the anti-friction means of both track means liein a common vertical plane, this last-mentioned vertical plane,preferably, substantially coinciding with the firstmentioned verticalplane.

It is a primary object of my invention to provide a drawer slide whichwill movably support extremely heavy loads of up to several hundredpounds, which will support such loads for movement a distance equal tothe depth of a conventional file cabinet drawer, which is relativelyinexpensive to manufacture, which is relatively narrow in width, andwhich will operate smoothly. The problems involved in providing a drawerslide having these characteristics are well known, and because of theseproblems, such drawer slides have not heretofore -been available.

My drawer slide comprises a pair of extensible track means, each trackmeans comprising guide means, slide means, and loadbearing anti-frictionmeans movably supporting the slide means on the guide means. I provide aconnecting member to which the guide means of each track means isrigidly fastened, the connecting member being proportioned and designedso that the anti-friction means of both of the track means lie in acommon vertical plane. Thus, my connecting member is arranged so thatthe force applied to one slide means is directed vertically in such aplane to be applied to the other slide means. Thus, there is no tendencyfor my connecting member to twist or bend laterally. Specifically, Ihave formed my connecting member to provide a vertically andlongitudinally extending upper wall portion to which one of the guidemeans is rigidly fastened to extend longitudinally therealong and avertically and longitudinally extending lower wall portion to which theother guide means is rigidly fastened to extend longitudinallytherealong, the wall portions being spaced on opposite sides of avertical plane extending longitudinally through the member and the guidemeans being fastened, respectievly, to the sides of the wall portionswhich face such a vertical plane. Preferably, the anti-friction meansassociated with each guide means will lie in such a vertical plane.Thus, I form the wall portions to be parallel to the plane and equallyspaced therefrom.

Further, I have formed the connecting member so that each of the upperand lower wall portions is bounded at its upper and lower edges byhorizontally and longitudi- 3,488,097 Patented Jan. 6, 1970 nallyextending side wall portions. Each of the guide means is snugly receivedbetween the side wall portions bounding the wall portion to which theguide means is fastened. Thus, each upper and lower wall portion withits side wall portions denes a channel section for snugly receiving oneof the guide means. It will be seen, as this description progresses,that each such channel serves to strengthen the guide means disposedtherein.

I have constructed such drawer slides having a total height of 3.5inches and a total Width of .423 inch, this height of 3.5 inchesincluding a vertically and 1ongitudinally extending intermediate portionwhich connects the upper and lower wall portions. Preferably, thisintermediate portion lsubstantially coincides with the vertical plane inwhich the anti-friction means lie. In my constructed embodiment of thedrawer slide, the height of this intermediate portion is approximatelyone-half inch to dene oppositely disposed longitudinally extendingchannels for receiving the heads of fastening elements used to connectthe drawer slide to cabinets and drawers.

I have found that two of my drawer slides, each of which has a width of.423 inch, will satisfactorily movably support a drawer or the likewhich weighs as much as five hundred pounds. It will be appreciatedthat, since, with the exception of the antifriction means, my drawer`slide comprises only parts which are fabricated from sheet metal havinga maximum thickness of .074 inch, such a performance is particularlyoutstanding.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentas this description progresses.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, the presentinvention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawingsare illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specicconstructions illustrated and described, so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is an exploded, fragmentary, perspective view of one preferredembodiment of the drawer slide;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the drawer slideshowing one slide means rigidly fastened to a portion of a cabinet frameand the other slide means rigidly fastened to a portion of a drawer;

FIG. 3 is a further-enlarged, fragmentary sectional view showing themanner in which the anti-friction means are disposed between each slidemeans and guide means;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one type of bearing retainer and FIG. 4ais a similar view of another type of bearing retainer;

FIG. 5 is a reduced, longitudinal sectional view taken from FIG. 2generally along the line 5-5 and FIG. 5a is a fragmentary sectional viewshowing a modification of the structure of FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken from FIG. 2 generally alongthe line 6 6; and

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view of a slightly different embodimentof my invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-5, it will be seen that I have illustrated adrawer slide 10 comprising a pair of extensible track means 12, 14connected together by means of a connecting member 16. Preferably, tosave on the cost of fabrication, the track means 12, 14 are identical.

Each track means 12, 14 comprises -a guide means 18, a slide means 20and load-bearing anti-friction means for movably supporting the slidemeans on the guide means. In the illustrative embodiment, suchanti-friction means comprise a plurality of ball bearings 22 carried inraceways cooperatively defined by the guide means 18 and theirrespective slide means 20. Specifically, in the illus trativeembodiment, each guide means 18 is formed to provide a longitudinallyand outwardly extending downwardly facing raceway 24 along its upperedge and a longitudinally and outwardly extending upwardly facingraceway 26 along its lower=edge while each slide means 20 is formed toprovide a" longitudinally and inwardly extending upwardly facing raceway`28 along its upper edge and a longitudinally and inwardly extendingdownwardly facing raceway 30 along its lower edge. Thus, each trackmeans 12, 14 comprises a plurality of ball bearings 22 carried on itsraceway 28 and under and in rolling contact with its raceway 24 andadditional ball bearings 22 carried on its raceway 26 and under and inrolling contact with its raceway 30. This relationship is clearly seenin FIG. 2.

I have illustrated rny preferred form of cooperating raceways, such asthe raceways 24, 28, in FIG. 3. Specifically, I prefer to form the guidemeans 18 from a strip of sheet metal having a thickness of approximately.O62 inch in a roll die so that it has the rolled upper and lower edgesdefining, respectively, its raceways .24, 26. Similarly, each slidemeans 20 is formed from a strip of sheet metal having a thickness of.074 inch in a roll die to have its upper and lower in-turned edgesdefining, respecively, its raceways 28, 30. Each such raceway 24-30 isformed to receive ball bearings 22 having a diameter of .187 inch. Ofcourse, each such raceway 24-30 must be formed with sufficient curvatureto engage the ball bearings 22 to prevent lateral separation of theassociated guide means 18 and slide means 20. I refer to the F. A.Jordan United States Patent 3,205,025 issued Sept. 7, 1965 whichdiscloses one manner in which my raceways 24-30 may be formed.

Referring to FIGS. l and 2, it will be seen that I have shown the slidemeans 20 o f the track means 12 rigidly fastened by means of theelements 36 to an intermediate member 38 which is, in turn, connected byscrews 39 (only one of which is shown) to a portion 38' of a frame,which may be the frame of a cabinet, and the slide means 20 of the trackmeans 14 rigidly fastened by means of the elements 40 to an intermediatemember 42 which is, in turn, connected by screws 39' (only one of whichis shown) to a side portion 42 of a drawer which is extensible relativeto Vthe frame. The fastening elements 36, 40 are merely illustrative andthe members 38, 40 may be connected to their respective slide means byspot welding or any other such technique. Thus, since the guide means 18of each track means 12, 14 is rigidly fastened to the connecting member16, the connecting member is extensible in the direction of the arrow 44(FIG. 1) relative to the cabinet frame 38 and the slide4 means 20 of thetrack means 14 is extensible in the direction of the arrow 46 relativeto the connecting member. Spot welds between the guide means 18 and theconnecting member 16 are indicated by the reference numeral 48 in FIG.3.

Referring further to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the drawer slideoccupies a minimum amount of space between the cabinet frame 38' and thedrawer 42'. Specifically, since my drawer slide can be fabricated withan overall width of .423 inch, as discussed previously, the space inwhich the slide is-disposed yneed not be significantly wider than, forinstance .500 inch. While drawer slides having widths of approximately.500 inch have been provided heretofore, none of such slides known to mehas had the load carrying capacity of my drawer slide 10 describedherein. I am able to provide such a load carrying capacity in such asmall space because of the manner in which I, have formed the connectingmember 16. Specifically, I have formed the connecting member 16 to havea vertically and longitudinally extending upper wall portion 54 and avertical and longitudinally extending lower wall portion 56, these wallportions being vspaced on opposite sides of a vertical plane whichextends longitudinally through the member 16. I `have illustrated acenter line 58'in FIGS 1 and 2 to represent such a vertically andlongitudinally extending plane. The wall portions 54, 56 are parallel tothe plane and equally spaced therefrom. The distance between the wallportions 54, 56 is such that, preferably, the centers of all the ballbearings 22 lie substantially in the vertically and longitudinallyextending plane represented by the centerline 58. Since the ballbearings 22 carry all of the load applied to the drawer slide 10, theload is applied in the above-described vertically and longitudinallyextending plane. It will be appreciated that, if the ball bearings 22 ofthe track means 12 were offset laterally relative to the ball bearings22 of the track means 14, there would be a bending moment applied to theconnecting member 16, which moment would require the member 16 to besignificantly heavier and, depending on the amount of the offset,perhaps different in structure.

Further, I have formed the connecting member 16 so that the upper wallportion 54 is bounded at its upper and lower edges, respectively, byhorizontally and longitudinally extending side wall portions 64, 66 andso that the lower wall portion 56 is bounded at its upper and loweredges, respectively, by horizontally and longitudinally extending sidewall portions 68, 70. The side wall portions 64, 66 are spaced apartsnugly to receive therebetween the guide means 18 of the track means 12,and similarly, the side wall portions 68, 70 are spaced apart snugly toreceive therebetween the guide means 18 of the track means 14. Thus,referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the upper wall portion 54 andthe side wall portions 64, 66 form a channel section which significantlystrengthens the structure of the guide means 18 fastened thereto whilethe lower wall portion 56 and the side wall portions 68, 70 define achannel section which significantly strengthens the guide means 18fastened thereto. For instance, the side Wall portions 64, 66significantly strengthen the rolled edges of the guide means 18 of thetrack means 12 and the wall portion 54 significantly stiffens the mainbody portion, i.e., the vertically and longitudinally extending portion,of the guide means 18.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIGS. 1-5, the connecting member 16 isfurther formed to provide an intermediate portion 72 which extendsvertically and longitudinally between the inner edges of the side wallportions 66, 68, this intermediate portion 72 also lying in theabove-described vertically and longitudinally extending plane indicatedby the center line 58. This portion 72 defines a space between the trackmeans 12, 14 for receiving the heads of the screws 39, 39' which areused to connect the slide 10 between a drawer and cabinet. Of course,the member 16 moves relative to the screws 39 and the screws 39 moverelative to the member 16.

I prefer to form the connecting member 16v from a strip of 18 gage sheetmetal. It will be apreciated that, since the guide means 18, slide means20 and connecting member 16 are all formed from relatively thin sheetmetal, it is important that no extended area of any portion of any ofthese elements be subjected to forces which are not directed along theplane indicated by the center line 58.

In FIGS. l, 2 and 3, I have shown a bearing retainer which correspondsto the bearing retainer disclosed in the aforementioned Jordan patent.This bearing retainer 80 also functions as a stop member as will bediscussed in conjunction with F-IG. 5. Specifically, in the illustrativeembodiment of FIG. 5, each guide means 18 is formed with an in-turnedflange 82, 84 at each of its ends. 'Each slide means 20 is formed withan in-turned flange 86 at one of its ends, which flange 86 is arrangedto engage the flange 82 to limit the movement ofthe slide means 20 inthe direction of the arrow 88 (FIG. 5). When the slide means 20 moves inthe direction opposite to the arrow 88, the flange 86 will engage theend 90 of the bearing retainer 80 to move the retainer toward the fiange84. The iiange 84 is arranged to engage the end 92 of the retainer 80 tostop movement of the retainer in the direction opposite to the arrow 88.FIG. 5, therefore, illustrates a rather conventional stop arrangementfor drawer slides After the slide means 20 is inserted into the guidemeans 18 and the ange 84 is bent inwardly, the guide means and slidemeans cannot be separated without bending one of the flanges 82, 84, 86.It is for this reason that I have illustrated a removable stop member 94in FIG. 5a. This stop member 94, which is held to the slide means 20 bya fastening element 96, replaces the flange 86. When the stop member 94is removed, the slide means 20 can be withdrawn from either end of theguide means 18. It will be apparent that any one or all of the flanges82, 84, 86 can be replaced by removable stop members, such as the stopmember 94.

In some cases, since the bearing retainer 80 must act as a stop member,i.e., cooperate with the stop flanges 82, 84, 86, it is desirable tohave a more rugged bearmg retainer. Thus, referring to FIGS. 4 and 4o,the structure of bearing retainers 100, 100 which are more rugged thanthe bearing retainers 80 will be discussed.

The bearing retainer 100 (FIG. 4) is a channel member comprising a mainbody portion 102 bounded by tlange portions 104, 106. A plurality oflongitudinally spaced apart holes 108 are provided in each flange 104,106, the diameter of these holes 108 being less than the diameter of theball bearings which are retained in the holes. The reason for this isdisclosed in the aforementioned Jordan patent. However, the distancebetween the flanges 104 and 106 is such that there is no tendency forthe bearing retainer 100 to urge resiliently the ball bearings 22against the upper raceway 24 and the lower raceway 26. In fact, I preferthat the distance between the flanges 104, 106 be such that, `when theretainer 100 and ball bearings 22 are disposed in a guide means 18before its associated slide means 20 is inserted therein, the ballbearings 22 carried by the upper flange 104 will be out of contact withthe raceway 24.

I prefer to weld a stop member 110, 112 on each end of the retainer 100.These stop members 110, 112 engage, respectively, the anges 84, 86discussed previously. Thus, the stop members 110, 112 provide thefunction of the hat-section which extends longitudinally along thebearing retainers 80.

The bearing retainer 100 (FIG. 4a) is similar to the bearing retainer100 except that slits 114 are provided between adjacent holes 108 in theilanges 104', 106. These slits 114 make the bearing retainer 100 moreflexible than the bearing retainer 100. This flexibility will permitslight independent vertical movement of the anges 104', 106 tocompensate for slight irregularities in the forming of the raceways24-30.

Referring to FIG. 6, it will be seen that I have illustrated one of theholes 108 in the bearing retainer 80 somewhat larger in diameter thanthe rest of the holes 108. I place a hardened rubber ball, indicated bythe reference numeral 22', in each of such larger holes 108', the balls22 being slightly smaller in diameter than the holes 108. Preferably,these rubber balls 22' have a diameter which is slightly larger than theball bearings 22 so that the rubber balls will be deformed asillustrated in FIG. 6, the illustration of course, being slightlyexaggerated. I can place several of such rubber balls in each of theupper and lower raceways 24, 26. Each rubber ball 22 will frictionallyand rollably engage the raceway on which it is carried and under whichit is carried in such a manner that it will always roll when one racewaymoves relatively to the other. When the rubber balls 22 roll, they movethe bearing retainers 80 to keep them in synchronization with themovement of the slide means 20 relative to the guide means 18. Thus, therubber balls 22 are means for insuring that the bearing retainer movesby an amount corresponding to the relative movement between a guidemeans 18 and slide means 20. The steel balls 22, of course, carry theextremely heavy loads which can be applied to the Slide 10. The rubberballs 22 are not provided for load-carrying purposes.

The drawer slide 10, therefore, comprises a retainer associated witheach track means 12, 14 and arranged to hold the ball bearings 22thereof in a group movable therealong, and rubber roller means 22'drivingly connected to said retainer. The roller means 22 is arrangedfrictionally and rollably to engage the guide means 18 and slide means20 to move the retainer 80 an amount corresponding to the relativemovement between the guide means and slide means.

Referring now to FIG. 7, another embodiment of my drawer slide,indicated generally by the reference numeral 10', will be discussed. Themain difference between the drawer slide 10 and the previously describeddrawer slide 10 is that the connecting member 16 of the drawer slide 10is formed without the vertically and longitudinally extendingintermediate portion 72. Thus, the fastening elements 39 and 39' arelocated above and below, respectively, the connecting member 16. Furtherthe drawer slide 10 is approximately 50% wider than the drawer slide 10.Additionally, the connecting member 16', the guide means 18 and theslide means 20 are formed from somewhat thicker sheet metal. Forinstance, I prefer to form the connecting member 16 from 14 gage sheetmetal and the guide means 18' and slide means 20 from l2 gage sheetmetal.

In this description and in the appended claims, I have referred to guidemeans and slide means without distinguishing which means actually moves.For instance, the guide means 18 of the track means 12 actually movesrelative to the stationary slide means 20 of that track means. I havedone this only for convenience and because the track means 12 and 14 arepreferably identical. In this specification, therefore, I intend forguide means and slide means to refer to two relatively movable andoperatively connected track elements.

What is claimed is:

1. A chassis track comprising a pair of extensible track means, eachtrack means comprising a guide means, a slide means, and load-bearinganti-friction means movably supporting said slide means on said guidemeans, an elongated connecting member, said member being formed with avertically and longitudinally extending upper wall portion and avertically and longitudinally extending lower wall portion, said wallportions being spaced on opposite sides of a vertical plane extendinglongitudinally through said member, one of said guide means beingrigidly fastened to each of said wall portions to extend longitudinallytherealong, said guide means being fastened, respectively, to the sidesof said wall portions which face said vertical plane.

2. The chassis track as in claim 1 in which said wall portions areparallel to said plane, said wall portions being spaced apart so thatthe anti-friction means of both track means lie in a common verticalplane.

3. The chassis track of claim 2 in which said lastmentioned verticalplane substantially coincides with said first-mentioned vertical plane.

4. The chassis track of claim 3 in which said member is formed with avertically and longitudinally extending intermediate portion connectingsaid upper and lower wall portions, said intermediate portionSubstantially coinciding with said first-mentioned vertical plane.

5. The chassis track of claim 4 in which each of said wall portions isbounded at its upper and lower edges by horizontally and longitudinallyextending side wall portions, each of said guide means being snuglyreceived between the side wall portions bounding the wall portion towhich the guide means is fastened.

6. A chassis track comprising a pair of track means, each track meanscomprising a guide means and a slide means, each guide means beingformed to provide a longitudinally and outwardly extending firstdownwardly facing raceway along its upper edge and a longitudinally andoutwardly extending first upwardly facing raceway along its lower edge,each slide means being formed to provide a longisassari tudinally andinwardly extending second upwardly facing raceway along its upper edgeand a longitudinally and inwardly extending second downwardly facingraceway along its lower edge, and load-bearing anti-friction meanscarried on said first upwardly facing raceway and under and in rollingcontact with said second downwardly facing raceway and additionalload-bearing anti-friction means carried on said second upwardly facingraceway and under and in rolling Contact with said first downwardlyfacing raceway, and an elongated rigid connecting member formed toprovide a pair of longitudinally extending channels, one of the channelsopening to one side of said member and the other channel opening to theopposite side of said member, one of said guide means rigidly fastenedin each of said channels to have its iirst raceways extend laterallyoutwardly therefrom and longitudinally therealong, and said member beingformed so that said one channel is above said other channel and so thatsaid anti-friction means comprising |both of said track means lie in acommon vertical plane.

7. The chassis track of claim 6 in which each track means includes aretainer arranged to hold the antifriction means thereof in a groupmovable therealong, and rubber roller means drivingly connected to saidretainer, said roller means being arranged frictionally and rollably toengage said guide means and said slide means, thereby to move saidretainer an amount corresponding to the relative movement between saidguide means and slide means.

8. The chassis track of claim 1 in Which each track means includes aretainer arranged to hold the antifriction means thereof in a groupmovable therealong, and `rubber roller means drivingly connected to saidretainer, said roller means being arranged frictionally and rollably toengage said guide means and said slide means, thereby to move saidretainer an amount corresponding to the relative movement between saidguide means and slide means.

9. The chassis track of claim 6 in which each of said load-bearinganti-friction means and said additional loadbearing anti-friction meanscomprises a group of steel ball bearings, and including a retainerhaving longitudinally-spaced apart apertures therein for receiving,respectively, said bearings of each group, and a rubber ball carried onone of said upwardly facing raceways and under its cooperatingdownwardly facing raceway, said rubber ball being drivingly connected tosaid retainer, and said rubber ball being proportioned and arrangedfrictionally and rollably to engage said cooperating raceways to movesaid retainer an amount corresponding to the relative movement betweensaid guide means and slide means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,237,956 8/1917 Pue 308-381,938,908 12/1933 Hunter 312-339 1,963,220 6/1934 Anderson S12-3392,032,054 2/1936 Gussack 3 12--3 39 FOREIGN PATENTS 548,474 1/1923France.

EDGAR W. GEOGHEGAN, Primary Examiner LUCIOUS L. JOHNSON, AssistantExaminer U.S. C1. X.R.

